Hello everyone,
We are currently building a single-family house turnkey through a local construction company. Basically, the price includes a fully tiled ground floor, a tiled staircase, and, of course, the bathroom.
We have now selected tiles, and for the hallway as well as the living and dining areas, approximately 50 sqm (540 sq ft), plus the staircase (22 sqm (240 sq ft)), these tiles are larger format and also more expensive. However, the other tiles are even slightly (not worth mentioning) cheaper than the price quoted by the builder.
The additional material cost comes to just under 5000 euros. Unfortunately, the tile dealer only told us the net tile price, otherwise, at 95 euros per sqm (9 dollars per sq ft), I probably would have reconsidered. But now we have fallen in love with the tile since it really looks like wood.
Additionally, there are about 1000 euros for extra tiling in the utility room (which I find completely reasonable and expected).
Also, it was clear to me that laying the larger-format tiles would cost more.
That's why I generously calculated additional costs of 7000-8000 euros (although I estimated somewhat lower material costs).
But…
the quote really shocked me.
Almost 12,000 euros.
About 35 euros per sqm (3.25 dollars per sq ft) extra for installing the large-format tiles, I think they are 120 x 20 cm (47 x 8 inches).
Plus about 7 euros per meter (2 dollars per foot) for water jet cutting.
Additionally, the tiles we thought were standard rectified tiles, and the tiler charges about 23 euros per sqm (2.15 dollars per sq ft) extra for installing them.
There are stainless steel edge profiles instead of the included plastic edge profiles, but on top of the material cost increase, an additional around 33 euros per meter (10 dollars per foot) is charged for installation.
(The approximately because I did not convert the prices exactly from net to gross.)
The extra costs seem very high to me, also compared to what I have read online. Or is this actually realistic?
The posts I found were already quite old.
We are currently building a single-family house turnkey through a local construction company. Basically, the price includes a fully tiled ground floor, a tiled staircase, and, of course, the bathroom.
We have now selected tiles, and for the hallway as well as the living and dining areas, approximately 50 sqm (540 sq ft), plus the staircase (22 sqm (240 sq ft)), these tiles are larger format and also more expensive. However, the other tiles are even slightly (not worth mentioning) cheaper than the price quoted by the builder.
The additional material cost comes to just under 5000 euros. Unfortunately, the tile dealer only told us the net tile price, otherwise, at 95 euros per sqm (9 dollars per sq ft), I probably would have reconsidered. But now we have fallen in love with the tile since it really looks like wood.
Additionally, there are about 1000 euros for extra tiling in the utility room (which I find completely reasonable and expected).
Also, it was clear to me that laying the larger-format tiles would cost more.
That's why I generously calculated additional costs of 7000-8000 euros (although I estimated somewhat lower material costs).
But…
the quote really shocked me.
Almost 12,000 euros.
About 35 euros per sqm (3.25 dollars per sq ft) extra for installing the large-format tiles, I think they are 120 x 20 cm (47 x 8 inches).
Plus about 7 euros per meter (2 dollars per foot) for water jet cutting.
Additionally, the tiles we thought were standard rectified tiles, and the tiler charges about 23 euros per sqm (2.15 dollars per sq ft) extra for installing them.
There are stainless steel edge profiles instead of the included plastic edge profiles, but on top of the material cost increase, an additional around 33 euros per meter (10 dollars per foot) is charged for installation.
(The approximately because I did not convert the prices exactly from net to gross.)
The extra costs seem very high to me, also compared to what I have read online. Or is this actually realistic?
The posts I found were already quite old.
Hello,
Yes, you do. With rectified tiles, you can see even the smallest angle errors and misalignments between the tiles because of the straight edges. If the floor is slightly uneven, you will immediately have raised edges somewhere. It looks bad and will cause a lot of complaints. The tiler therefore needs to prepare and level the subfloor much more thoroughly.
Best regards,
Andreas
Zaba12 schrieb:
There is no need to work more carefully or precisely to justify an additional charge.
Yes, you do. With rectified tiles, you can see even the smallest angle errors and misalignments between the tiles because of the straight edges. If the floor is slightly uneven, you will immediately have raised edges somewhere. It looks bad and will cause a lot of complaints. The tiler therefore needs to prepare and level the subfloor much more thoroughly.
Best regards,
Andreas
nordanney schrieb:
No, there is no extra charge for that. The additional cost comes from laying with mini-grout joints. However, mini-grout joints do not result from more complicated work, but in my opinion, from the tiles being cut precisely and then treated afterwards.
Whether a tile installer uses a 2mm (0.08 inch) or 4mm (0.16 inch) spacer does not make a difference or justify an extra charge.
Of course, the tile installer might want to add a surcharge here, but that is neither justified nor common, especially not for 60cm x 30cm (24 inches x 12 inches) tiles. For 250cm x 120cm (98 inches x 47 inches) tiles, I might accept it.
@andimann I agree with you on 120cm x 20cm (47 inches x 8 inches), but definitely not on 30cm x 60cm (12 inches x 24 inches).
N
nordanney2 Dec 2020 16:12Zaba12 schrieb:
The narrow grout joints do not result from more complicated work, but in my opinion from the tiles being cut precisely and then finished.The narrow grout joints are requested by the client. And they only look really good with calibrated tiles. This requires very precise workmanship. If the grout joints become wider, it doesn’t matter whether rectified, calibrated (or not), or even tiles fired on the first full moon in March are used.
Now we would need a tiler here, because I believe that whether the tiler works with 2mm or 4mm grout lines does not matter to the tradesperson. In both cases, precise work is required, meaning the grout width must be consistently maintained.
I have been a member of this forum for 4 years now and must admit that this is the first time I have heard that a tiler automatically charges extra for rectified tiles because they assume the customer wants narrow grout lines, no edges, etc. Let's be honest, it is their job to work accurately.
I have been a member of this forum for 4 years now and must admit that this is the first time I have heard that a tiler automatically charges extra for rectified tiles because they assume the customer wants narrow grout lines, no edges, etc. Let's be honest, it is their job to work accurately.
S
Smialbuddler2 Dec 2020 18:49Zaba12 schrieb:
We now need a tiler here, because I believe that whether the tiler works with 2mm or 4mm grout joints does not really matter from a craftsmanship perspective. You have to work precisely in both cases to maintain the consistency of the grout width. I’m not a professional tiler, but I have installed floor tiles in my own home.
The narrower the grout joint, the more noticeable any crookedness becomes. Of course, you have to be precise with both 2mm (0.08 inches) and 4mm (0.16 inches) joints, but 2mm (0.08 inches) is less forgiving. And beware if your floor is slightly uneven (old buildings :rolleyes 🙂. Larger grout joints make it much easier to accommodate that.
At least for me as a DIYer, wider grout joints were definitely easier to install.
Professional experience of course largely compensates for this.
The narrower grout joints were only mentioned in passing when we selected the wall tiles. We were told that with rectified tiles, the grout lines are narrower, and that we should definitely choose rectified wall tiles because otherwise it would look bad. However, no one asked if we wanted that or informed us that it would be more expensive.
Overall, I no longer feel well advised there.
Overall, I no longer feel well advised there.
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